Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies (Spiced Cookie Recipe) - Savory Simple (2024)

These old fashioned molasses cookies are incredibly addictive, and they stay soft for days! Make this spiced cookie recipe for the holidays.

When fall arrives and the temperatures get colder, my desire to bake skyrockets. I love this time of year, and I love the holidays, but I always lament the jarring reduction of daylight and warm weather. Nothing soothes my soul against dark skies quite like fresh-baked cookies.

If it’s fall, I’m sure to be baking Peanut Butter Cookies. Once December rolls in, I’m all aboutFrosted Eggnog Cookiesand Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies!

These fragrant, spiced ginger molasses cookies are like a ray of sunshine that’s been infused with the best warming spices of the season. I (barely) adapted this recipe from the January / February 2002 issue of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine, because I knew they’d get it right. They did; their spiced cookie recipe is perfect. T

The soft, chewy treats were gone within hours (thanks, neighbors!)

Ingredients for Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies

• White granulated sugar –If you have demerara sugar, try using that for tossing the portioned cookie dough before baking. I wouldn’t run out and purchase it just to make this recipe, but it has a nice caramel flavor that works very well with molasses cookies.
• All-purpose flour– Feel free to use an all-purpose gluten free flour if you need to. I haven’t tested it, but a 1:1 blend should work well.
• Baking soda– Be sure to test your baking soda for freshness before you start making this recipe. It’s a bummer to learn the hard way… when your cookies don’t rise!
• Spices – You’ll need several ground spices. I like to buy fresh bottles at the beginning of every baking season. You’ll want ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, and black pepper.
• Butter– I like to use salted butter for baking but unsalted is fine too. If you’ll be using unsalted, you may want to add a pinch of salt to the cookie dough.
• Dark brown sugar – Do you know that brown sugar is simply white granulated sugar with molasses added to it? Dark brown sugar has more than the light variety.
• Egg yolk
• Vanilla extract
• Molasses (light or dark)– Keep in mind that using a dark molasses will give a darker color and richer flavor to the cookies.

How to Make Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies

Making the cookie dough is really simple. It’s just a basic creaming method.

Step 1: Cream the butter and sugar.

Whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together for a few minutes until pale and fluffy.

Step 2: Add egg, molasses, and dry Ingredients.

Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix until combined, then add the molasses. Scrape down the bowl a couple times along the way to make sure the ingredients near the bottom are evenly combined.

Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, then give a final stir to make sure no dry ingredients are hiding at the bottom of the mixer. The cookie dough will be very soft!

Step 3: Toss Cookie Dough in Sugar

If you’ve ever made my snickerdoodle cookies, the next step will look a bit familiar. Using a tablespoon cookie scoop or measuring spoon, portion out the dough, a few cookies at a time. Use your hands to roll the cookies into balls, then drop into a bowl with sugar and swirl/toss to coal.

The dough will be very soft, so use a light hand. Place the sugar-coated cookie dough on a parchment-lined sheet pan, around 2 inches apart.

Step 4: Bake the old fashioned molasses cookies!

No need to chill the dough first. Bake one sheet at a time on the center rack, rotating the pan halfway through. The cookies should still look a little raw between the cracks when you remove them from the oven. This will ensure chewy, soft molasses cookies!

Step 5: Transfer to a Cooling Rack

Let the cookies cool on the sheet pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack. You should technically let them cool to room temperature before enjoying, but we all know that won’t happen.

You will see there’s a difference between the texture of the warm versus fully cooled molasses cookies. They’ll be incredibly soft right out of the oven, but they’ll develop more of a chewy texture once cooled.

Recipe Tips

1. Don’t chill the dough. I almost always chill cookie dough before baking, but I don’t recommend doing so here. You’ll get more of those signature cracks if the dough is room temperature. I think the molasses helps keep the dough from spreading too much in the oven.
2. Bake single batches at a time. The cracks in the cookies are also why you want to cook one sheet pan at a time. If you’re in a hurry and don’t care about crinkles, you can bake both sheets at once using the upper and lower third shelves.
3. Use pre-cut parchment. I buy parchment sheets that are cut to fit my sheet pans perfectly. They’re so much better than the parchment rolls from the grocery store because they lie flat.

Other Cookie Recipes

If you like these old fashioned molasses cookies, check out my full recipe archive for more cookies and barsto make!